by Natalie Bennett

Outdoor theatre is tough, particularly in central London. You’ve got helicopters, birds, passing drunks – a lot of distractions.

Free outdoor theatre, where the audience can wander in and out at will, is doubly tough. You’ve got to not just get people, but hold them.

That’s something that the opening night production of Don Juan in Love at The Scoop (the sunken ampitheatre beside City Hall) managed pretty well. A few people left, but most of those who were there at the start were still there 90 minutes later, if rather chilled by an unseasonal August evening.

The company chose the play well – plenty of sexual innuendo (played with physical glee), lots of violence, and non-stop drama in the oft-told story of the great lothario, here drawn from the 1839 dramatisation by Spanish romantic Jose Zorrilla.

If you’re looking for subtle psychological exploration of machismo, then you won’t find it here. But if you can enjoy a lively tale, well-staged (the final death scene – a coffin lid covered in blazing candles and skulls, used by the furies to force Don Juan down into hell – is particularly notable), and well-acted. (Although perhaps it is time to declare a moratorium on on-stage sword fights – they’re really never convincing.)

Presented by the Steam Industry Free Theatre, the show runs until September 5 at 8pm at The Scoop. Practical notes: limit of 1,000 seats. May be cancelled in case of rain.